The Last FO of 2015

With all the secret knitting I do, I'm pleased that I don't have to keep this one under wraps. This was the last thing I finished in 2015: a hat for Connor. Or maybe more accurately described as "A hat for whoever has last misplaced their hat." Clearly I need to knit more hats. I've got my eyes on the currently popular Baa-ble Hat, the also popular Deep Woods Toque, or maybe a Croix. My French is good enough I probably could muddle through Croix's instructions.

Anyways, I used Wei Siew's delightful Slipped Hat pattern using a skein of Crystal Palace Yarn's Sausalito in the Big Sur color way and Little Wool Co's 4-ply wool in the Chocolate color way. Connor is quite pleased with his new knitwear. He's been wearing it every chance he gets. It doesn't matter if we are indoors, outdoors, going through doors...

Also, in case you didn't know, we are both 5 years old. I was trying to get some serious photos, but we aren't really serious people... mostly.

From Hobbiton To Blue Lake

Because Connor wasn't going to be in New Zealand for very long, I wanted to do my best to share parts of my childhood as well as some touristy things with him. Being the Lord of the Rings fan that he is, I knew I had to take him to Hobbiton.

Any local will tell you that if you live in an area, you will have missed out on some of the classic touristy stuff that you can do. When I had found out that Chris also hadn't been to Hobbiton, I did my best to convince him that he should come with us. I succeeded.

I've been to Hobbiton twice at this point and I've decided that my very favorite place is the Green Dragon. I only wish I knew the song that Merry and Pippin sing about it.

Last time I was here, there were generic mugs to have your pint in. This time around they had Green Dragon pint glasses. And I thought to myself: "They have pint glasses? I'm getting one."

We also popped into the gift shop. And wouldn't you know it, one of Wei Siew's patterns is in there with Stansborough yarn.

After Hobbiton, Sarah and her boyfriend Ben invited Connor and I to hike around Blue Lake. Her father has some legendary stories (many of which Chris has been a part of) so I asked Sarah if anything crazy ever happens to her. In other words, is it genetic? She said she couldn't remember. Famous last words.
Rosie, the dog who was with us and has infinite energy, spotted a duck and went out into the lake to get it. Every time she got close, the duck would fly just a few feet further. We thought the duck was stupid... until we realized it had ducklings. We then knew that not only was the duck not going to leave, neither was Rosie. Sarah made the bold decision to swim out into the cold lake to get Rosie. She almost succeeded, but Rosie spotted the duckling and started anew. At the point we decided on a different strategy. Rosie loves her people, so we walked on, hoping that she would realize we were gone and come looking for us. A bit down the trail we realized that we couldn't hear the duck quacking anymore. We knew it had ended, but we didn't know how. Did Rosie catch the duck? Did she drown? A few seconds later Rosie came charging down the trail.

I felt quite lucky to have gotten to see another part of New Zealand that I didn't know existed. The evening was beautiful and I got to spend it with great company.

Hit The Ground Running - NZ Edition

It's been a busy time since I landed in New Zealand a week and a half ago. The first thing I did when reaching Auckland was replace my sim card. This turned out to be fortuitous, because when I walked over to the domestic terminal, I discovered that I had printed the wrong papers for my connecting flight. Luckily I was able to get into my email to get the right ones! (But not until after having trouble getting into my email... of course.)
After landing in Wellington, not 5 minutes after being in the car with Chris, he got a call asking for help to move furniture. I didn't mind. But it was tough work moving furniture for an hour after having travelled for 18 hours!
Later on in the day Chris' brother John joined us and we walked up Mt Kaukau. Doing this hike on the same day as landing in New Zealand seems to have turned into a tradition.

The next day I went hiking with Chris and his friend Rodger to check traps around one of the wildlife sanctuaries. They kill the mice, rats, stoats, and other nonnative species to help preserve the native birds. Before we went Chris told me how terrible it was to get a hedgehog because they get all mushy when they die. Sure enough, one of the traps had a hedgehog and Rodger said something to the effect that he hated getting hedgehogs because they get all mushy. Luckily this one was freshly dead and easily removed. I can now take "see hedgehog" off the bucket list, but add "see live hedgehog" to it. We climbed to the top of a rather steep trail and saw an enormous yellow bush called Golden Tainui.

A few days later I joined my friend kiwipurler for a day around Wellington. We went to a saturday craft market. Anna Gratton was there. I didn't buy any yarn, but I did take a picture of the yarn I was thinking about buying. Once I figure out the amounts I need, some of that yarn will be mine. (Note: it's 912 yds for $18NZ!)

The day was so lovely. We walked along the waterfront and talked about life stuff. It's always fun to catch up with a friend.

As it turns out, she had a surprise in store for me. The only problem I have is, which do I knit up first?

And The Winner Is...

The winner is kiwipurler who left the 6th comment on the Manos post. Congrats! I'll be sending you your yarn shortly.

Thanks to everyone who shared their birthday memories. I really enjoyed reading all the stories.

As for me, I had a wonderful birthday. And I came away with some awesome birthday loot. Some things might not be pictured because I used or ate them already...